The Military Doctor Excels at Being a Contracted Duchess - Chapter 88

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

【Chapter 88】

To understand why dignified gentlemen were rolling around shirtless on the grass, we must go back to the current king’s ascension to the throne.

Nicholas had despised boring things with a passion since his days as crown prince.

He mostly skipped classes on imperial studies and history, claiming he would go crazy if he had to sit still.

Instead, Nicholas enjoyed extreme sports with his friends.

Among them, Nicholas’s favorite was none other than wrestling.

The year he inherited the throne, he immediately incorporated wrestling as part of the Hunting Festival.

Though his subjects protested, Nicholas silenced them with just one sentence.

“Don’t ladies have the right to see and choose the bodies of the gentlemen they might marry?”

Honestly, from the ladies’ perspective, it provided eye candy, and gentlemen could show off their strength before the young ladies they wanted to impress, so there was nothing wrong with it.

That’s how wrestling came to signal the start of the Hunting Festival.

As the horn trumpet sounded long, two men stood facing each other on the grass.

Their sculpted shoulders and backs, glistening with sunlight, were incredibly solid. They felt more like beasts than humans.

Victor’s opponent was no pushover either – from what she overheard, he was the son of some military family.

The young ladies screamed as the two men growled and grappled with each other.

“I’ll win this year, Your Grace.”

“Do your best.”

The two men’s bodies collided violently. Their latissimus dorsi muscles rippled and rough breaths clashed at close range.

Even though they wore pants, their quadriceps were so taut they were clearly visible.

‘This really is… beyond expectations.’

Ebel, who had been seated in the audience before even properly exchanging greetings, somehow already had salty corn snacks in her hands.

Neither the young ladies nor even the noble ladies cared that they hadn’t yet exchanged proper introductions according to etiquette.

‘They said the Hunting Festival had an atmosphere loose to the point of debauchery.’

Watching the young ladies analyze the exchanges between the two males who seemed almost mad with competition, Ebel looked up at the sky in a daze.

As if she were the only one who found this situation absurd, the sky was heartlessly clear.

“Kyaaah!”

As Victor lowered his body and applied force, his lower muscles rippled like waves. His opponent also showed off his angry back muscles and struggled, but Victor’s technique was superior.

The young ladies couldn’t take their eyes off the sweat-soaked abs and only fanned themselves frantically.

“Oh my, oh my. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

“This is why we come to the Hunting Festival, right? We should seriously hold a muscle evaluation meeting later.”

“I prefer muscles like Duke’s. Should I call them practical?”

“Hmm, your taste differs from mine. I prefer the more bulky type.”

Where else would ladies, who are forced to be modest, get to have such conversations freely?

Ebel also found herself listening intently.

She couldn’t even chew her corn snacks, afraid the crunching sound might be heard.

‘Really. Not telling me the Hunting Festival starts like this was definitely intentional.’

It must be Victor’s little prank.

The fallen man braced himself on the grass, turned his body, and stretched out his leg. But Victor skillfully blocked with his arm, grabbed the man’s nape, and slammed him to the ground.

“3, 2, 1! Duke’s victory!”

The referee quickly came out and counted backwards, and the man who couldn’t escape during that time ultimately lost.

Grinning as he swept back his hair, he glanced at Ebel and somehow sent her a proud look.

So this seemed to be the finals…

“The winner of this wrestling match is Duke Bayern!”

The referee grabbed Victor’s hand and raised it high.

In the cauldron of excitement, Ebel couldn’t find anywhere to look and averted her gaze alone.

Suddenly, this morning’s incident in the carriage came to mind, making her face burn.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Victor, holding a flower crown, walked steadily toward Ebel, who was internally using rough expressions she usually avoided due to her modest demeanor.

Being seated in the front row of the VIP section, she couldn’t even escape.

“Ebel.”

“…Congratulations on your victory.”

“Thank you. I worked hard to win this flower crown, so I’m glad you acknowledge it.”

In medieval times, knights used to duel for the ladies they served.

This muddy wrestling was the same.

Wearing the flower crown, Ebel swallowed a sigh, feeling like her back would be pierced by the envious and jealous gazes flying from everywhere.

Especially the Queen’s eyes from the opposite stands were no joke.

‘But I came here not even knowing this would happen.’

Of course, she couldn’t feel wronged about it.

Because her lips were still swollen.

“How nice for you, Your Grace.”

“Congratulations. How wonderful…”

Even among the men, Victor was exceptional.

Usually he wore even a vest, so she hadn’t noticed, but with everyone shirtless, he clearly stood out.

His chin slowly lifted as he drank the water a servant brought him.

His thick neck gleamed in the sunlight, and his Adam’s apple moved rapidly up and down beneath his sharp jawline.

Several young ladies who had been watching the heat pooled above his firmly defined abs finally collapsed backward as if fainting.

The maids, seemingly accustomed to this, tended to their mistresses and applied ice packs to their foreheads.

“There will be a brief rest period! Please rest in the tents for about an hour, then gather for light refreshments!”

As the king’s attendant shouted loudly, people scattered in all directions.

Victor looked at Ebel, who was pursing her lips, and chuckled low in his throat.

“Were you very surprised?”

“You didn’t even tell me.”

When she scolded him with reproach, he shrugged his shoulders.

Since he was still shirtless, she didn’t know where to look.

“I’m a man with much shame, so please understand. It was embarrassing to explain that I roll around on the ground like this.”

Leaning against a screen, he looked up at Ebel.

Like a large hunting dog acting cute, Ebel had no choice but to nod.

“You told me the Hunting Festival doesn’t follow formalities, but… I didn’t know the competition would start immediately without even minimal greetings.”

“The ladies will exchange greetings starting from refreshment time. The men will leave immediately for hunting then. And actually, to be honest, I forgot to explain this in detail.”

His heated hand, warm from exertion, caressed her cheek. Of course, it was clean since he had washed earlier.

“I was supposed to explain the Hunting Festival rules, but then…”

His thumb, sliding gently down her cheek, lingered on her lips.

It was enough of a moment to make Ebel’s face turn red.

* * *

“Isn’t this really too much?”

Meanwhile, Minuette, who had entered the temporary barracks, was trembling and crying, unable to contain her anger.

Even her sad face was beautiful, but there were no men here to appreciate such beauty from Minuette.

Minuette bit her lower lip hard and shook her head as if trying to erase the scene she had just witnessed.

“The flower crown… He knows how much I want that flower crown, yet he’s never given it to me even once. I thought this year might be different, but now he has a wife!”

Her chest felt torn with grief welling up.

For Minuette, the ‘flower crown’ held very special meaning.

Because Victor had said it was pretty when she was a child.

That’s why she had even instigated the king to create the custom of giving flower crowns.

Of course, the flowers in the crown were always the same type.

Purple freesia.

Those flowers, carefully grown in the greenhouse, were also Minuette’s most beloved.

“I… knowing that I prepare purple freesias, he did it right in front of me!”

Tears of injustice flowed down Minuette’s cheeks.

Then, the entrance to the barracks was lifted and a red-haired man appeared.

“I knew you’d be whining, and sure enough.”

“Your Majesty!”

“Ah, keep crying. Finish what you started. I came here to play with these girls.”

Nicholas, who had stridden over, suddenly grabbed the waist of the maid who had been brushing Minuette’s hair.

The silver brush fell to the floor in the process, but he didn’t seem to care at all.

“Stop! I told you not to touch my maids.”

“Then will the Queen entertain me instead?”

“That’s…!”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————